Time Travel Is!

Time travel is! Physical time travel doesn't exist, as far as I know. Time slips probably do occur, but I've never experienced one myself. For those who have been stranded in the past or future, they're living in a new reality. Maybe their Alternate Universe (Hereafter shortened to AU) they were in has a rate at which time precesses differently  from ours. How certain individuals or things physically transferred from one universe to another is not just unclear but totally opaque. Even the fact that interaction between members of different AU's occur while in the timeslip is, for now, an unfathomable mystery. Oh well, it is what it is. But I digress…

When I speak about time travel, I am primarily speaking about traversing the multi-universe through use of our minds. When we travel backwards in time, we primarily travel through the loosely connected path we call memory. For most of us, what we call memories are fixed and when recalled they are the same each time. However, there are some of us who, as I call it, jump the track. Their minds are no longer following the path of experienced memories, but have somehow begun to recall, not their own memories but, perhaps, reaching into an AU and tapping into the memories of their other self in that AU. I don't know how this happens, nor do I understand why. It does occur, and can be frightening, depending on what has happened or is happening there. 

Traveling forward in time is a totally different ball of wax. Traveling in the past you, usually, are locked in your AU of existence. When you travel into the future not only do you leave your own AU, but you plunge into a limitless set of experiences, guided only by your own imagination. You can build your own AU controlled only by you and the limits you set upon it. Or maybe you would explore universes that others have built. Or maybe you could tumble randomly in time and space, briefly experiencing each AU, until you're bored with it all and return to your own reality, if you can! 

I have been reading Science Fiction ever since I learned to read. I grew up in the multiverse of Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke and too many more to mention. I've walked the steel covered planet called Earth, experienced the Ring World, piloted a one man medical ship to distant worlds under the light of an alien sun. Once I was outside of time, being flung from the future to the past and back again, finally reaching… 

Perhaps you've been in a time slip or your memories aren't what you thought they were. Or, have you experienced strange or familiar, almost, people in your dreams. I might write about dreams next time, maybe. Check back. In my blog you'll never know who, or what,  will be here to greet you! 

See you, I hope, at the next posting!  

Just a Few Days Late!

Another hot day here. Since I wrote my last post, the air conditioner in my vehicle is on the fritz. It happened on Thursday morning when I was going over to a retirement community to check things out. As soon as I started my vehicle, there was no air. I'm taking it in on Wednesday to have it looked at. I sure hope it won't cost a lot to fix it! It doesn't affect my driving but it sure makes the vehicle hot! The vents blow hot air when the A/C is turned on. The fact is if I have the climate control on at all, the vents blow hot air. So I have been driving with the windows open and the climate control off. Very windy and noisy and it only reduces the temperature in the vehicle a modicum.

The visit to Mallard Point went well. Met the rep and had lunch first. It was a good meal. I had baked shrimp with steamed cauliflower and a baked potato. Milk and water and coffee to drink. It was finished off was cherry crisp. Overall, a very good meal. After that, the rep and I went to look at a single bedroom apartment they had available. It was very roomy in both the living room/kitchen and the bedroom. The bathroom was bigger than the one in my house with plenty of features to help the elderly. The bathtub/shower had an area cut out of the side of the tub to make it much easier to get in. There were handrails in both the tub and the rest of the bathroom. The only thing I didn't like was that there was a large (to me) gap between the toilet and the sink cabinet. I depend on being able to use the cabinet top to help me get up from the stool. I would have liked to have seen a handrail attached to the cabinet to help me overcome the distance between the stool and the cabinet. That's my perception, I may be wrong. There's no stove in the kitchenette for safety reasons, but there is room for a cart and microwave between the sink and door. The refrigerator is a dorm sized one, but you will probably only keep drinks and snacks in it. It does have a freezer section in the fridge so you could keep some TV dinners or ice cream in it.

I have to make a special note here that this was a first-floor room with a patio and close to a parking lot. There are rooms upstairs as well, and at least some of them have balconies. I didn't look at the outside of the building much so I don't know if all of them had balconies. There are also cottages on the ground that are available to use. They do have a visitors room available for when friends or family come to visit. There is a cost of $74 per night, but they do have roll-a-way beds available for free. This apartment has plenty of room for at least two of them. Towels and bedding are also available.

You're probably wondering about the cost. There is a $2600 deposit and the room is $2000 a month. You may think that this is a high cost, but there are some things you need to consider. First: this cost includes the room, all meals, and utilities. Cable service is provided, consisting of more than 130 channels. The Internet is wireless and provided in common areas of the facility. It may reach your room, but if you want a good connection in your room you have to pay for it yourself. There nurses and aides available, if you need them, however, there is an additional cost for that service.

In summation, the people there are friendly, the meals are good, and there are plenty of group activities to participate in. There is also laundry equipment for your free use. All in all, this is a great place to live. As soon as I can get my house cleaned out and sold, I would like to move in there. There is a waiting list, so I intend to put my name on it in the next few days.

WTF is Happening

I'm back, again!

WTF is Happening?

Let me put it this way! I've been under a lot of pressure since my wife died, the pressure to meet a lot of other peoples expectations. I can't live up to their expectations, and it has caused a lot of pressure on me, and I can't take it anymore. I'm at the point I can't do anything! I almost had a breakdown yesterday. I normally go to bed at 9 or 10 at night, but I was up to 3 this morning trying to handle what was going on.

With the help of some self-therapy, and some Youtube videos I was able to get things under control. I had to make some hard decisions, culminating in the decision to break ties with one person who is especially putting pressure on me. I also decided to turn a deaf ear to those who are being bossy,  I still need to get done those things they are bullying me about, but I'll do it on my schedule, not theirs!

So basically, I'm breaking the chains of control they've laid on me. I know what I have to do, and I appreciate any physical help they can offer, but I have to be in control. I'm making up lists of what to do when to do it, and what I expect the results to be. There's a lot of things I need physical help with. I'm handicapped, can't walk very well, and have limited strength in my right arm. I've also purchased some aids to help me move heavy things. I'm getting rid of most of my personal property, household goods, and clothing my wife had.

Our Salvation Army Family Store recently closed, but I'm going to see what St. Vincent de Paul can use. They will sometimes come and pick-up items to be donated if there's a quantity of them. I also will be checking with local churches to see if there's anything they want. Goodwill is my last option because I'd have to get my items there because they don't pick-up. And a couple of more places I just thought of: the battered women's shelter and the Salvation Army. I'll call them and see if they are interested in any clothing.

Time to close. I'll post again on Wednesday.

Life Without the Internet is No Fun!

Sorry I haven't written lately. My Internet connection has been lousy for the past few weeks so I called Mediacom and they sent someone out after about 3 days. He knew his stuff and he worked for quite a while but by the time he was finished my Internet didn't work at all! This was on a Saturday, and we were having a terrible thunderstorm. I didn't want him on the pole, so he said in a couple of days he'd be back to do a complete inside rewiring.

He never gave me a definite day he'd be back, so I waited impatiently until Monday. I was having a hard time living without the internet. Anyway, I called Mediacom again, and they hadn't heard that he was supposed to return so they didn't have him scheduled to come back. They really apologized, removed a late payment charge and gave me back a good bit of the month's cost for the phone and internet services. They scheduled another person to come out in two days, but half an hour or so later they called me back and said they could send someone out that day if it was OK with me. Of course I said "Yes." He came out that day and rewired the house, put in some new cable components, and "Voila" I was back on track! Everything has been working since then. A happy person am I!

I'm going to close out here. It's getting late and I didn't sleep well last night so, talk to you later!

I'm back!

It's been a few days, but there hasn't been much going on. I've checked some of my inventory and made a score on some CD's. Now you might not think CD's are much of a score, especially since these were unused. The key here is the type of CD's I picked up: Lightscribe Cd's. I picked up about forty of them for $10. They can be sold for around $1.50 each, depending on quantity. That means I may get $60 for them, making a profit of $50. I checked on eBay to see what they were selling for, and discounting those that were under priced, that's how I arrived at the price to sell them for, plus shipping. I'll sell them in lots, as I think I can clear more that way.

Now, I don't know how you run or plan to source items to sell, so I wanted to mention a few people I follow on YouTube and why. The first I want to mention is Taco Stacks. This guy is greatly diversified in how he makes money and sources. He sells on eBay, has a area at a flea market that he sells in, he collects and sells scrap metal. He sources in a variety of places, He hits the thrift stores, picks up items while he's scrapping, gets a few things at the flea market, picks things up at garage and yard sales, and visits auctions to pick up things for his flea market booth and eBay. He's doing what we all need to do in our business: He diversifies both his sourcing and how he makes money. How you do that is up to you.

Another YouTuber I follow is GlobalVooDoo. He has multiple sources for things to sell: Thrift shops, Garage Sales, buying storage bins and a number of other sources. He sells on Etsy and eBay and Amazon and on Facebook marketing, to name just a few. Not everybody will be comfortable watching his videos, but he presents the other side of selling. I like him, but your mileage my vary.

A couple I have started following recently. There YouTube channel is called Bargain Barons. Its a couple whose videos primarily deal with purchasing items to resell at yard sales and antique stores. It's very interesting because they include the audio of when they discuss things at the sale and some of their reasoning why they buy a particular item. At the end of the video they show each of the items they purchased, showing what they paid for it and its estimated value and the profit they expect to make. A little different to watch but I'm getting used to it.

In summary, I wanted to show you that there a many ways to source and sell. Start off with one or maybe two to sell at and as many places to source as you feel comfortable with. Next time I will share some of the people and sites that are helpful when you're selling.

Happy thrifting!

New Introduction and Blog Purpose Change

Hi all! It's Friday night around midnight and I have a few words to share.

I'm changing the focus of this blog. My focus now is on selling on eBay as a new seller. I've been on eBay for a number of years, mostly as a seller. I've sold a few things over the years, but only intermittently. I'm taking the leap now to be a more regular seller. I'm not going full time, I just want to make some extra spending money. I wont be going full speed ahead. I'm going to try to list at least 5 items an average of 5 days a week. Sunday is always a "non-business" day.

I've been buying from online auctions for the past few years and my house and garage are FULL! It's got to go. I'm a member of a FaceBook group called The Thrifting Board. It's a great group, full of information and helpful admins and members. They heavily discourage disparaging any of the members of the group and only want helpful comments on listed items if the owners request help. They welcome new members.

All that being said, I'm going to make the big leap on Monday. The first thing I have to do is select the items to list Monday and research them to see if they're worth selling. Then I'll take pictures and weigh what I'm selling along with its packaging. Then I will go through the process of listing. (I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos!) That's not the way everyone does it, but as a beginner I'm taking baby steps. As I grow in experience I may change my process, but for me, right now, this is the way to go.

I think I'll end this now. Next time I'll talk about what I'm doing in the business and a few of the helpful people I've encountered on Facebook and YouTube.

Please leave a comment. I will leave a response for you!

Bye for now!

I'm an Addict and I Admit It!

I have this terrible addiction and I don't know what to do about it. I didn't have it while I was working, but after I entered involuntary retirement it really took off. I can sleep without it affecting me too much, but I have lost sleep over it. It grabs hold of me when I wake up and doesn't let go until I go to sleep. I've tried weaning myself off, and have even quit cold turkey, but nothing worked. I've considered getting rid of the source, but can't bear the thought of doing it and being without.

I don't know if my ADHD has a part in it, but I am suspicious. As soon as I get up I have to have my first fix, and it just keeps it hitting me all day. Yes, if I don't turn on the TV first thing in the morning and get my first fix of news I'm lost. The reason I think my ADHD has a role in it is my need for change. I became disabled shortly after my retirement and the loss of mobility and the ability to effect change in my house and outside really drags me down. I get some of the little things done, but my lack of ability to make big changes is frustrating.

So for the most part, I can only effect change when I watch TV. That's why news shows help me stay focused - their always changing. I can do some things like checking my email and banking, but sorting is an exercise in frustration. I want to put everything in the right place and order, but where is that? I even bought a NEAT scanner to help me get rid of piles of paperwork, but now it's buried under more papers!

I've considered getting the help of a professional organizer, but I don't think there is anyone in my area that does that kind of thing. My mental health professional at the VA is no help. She's mainly focused on my losing weight. I am losing weight so that's helping, but not with my clutter. I've even thought about getting help from an ADHD counselor, but I don't have the money for that. The local ADHD support group is focused on children, so I can't get any help there as an adult with ADHD.

Oh wretched man that I am! who will deliver me from the body of this death?